Don't run
by Gemenice
Summary: Being a teenager superhero is not the hardest thing in one's life... or the one story in which Billy's just a bit dense.


**Rating: **T

**Categories: **M/M

**Fandom: **Young Avengers

**Relationships: **Billy/Teddy

**Characters: **Billy, Teddy

**Additional Tags:** Humor and Fluff. OOC?

**Disclaimer: Don't own them and never will.**

* * *

The worst thing that could happen to one person wasn't becoming a superhero. Well, why should it be a bad thing, right? Well, that's the question only a NON-superhero could ask, Billy was sure. He sighed as he glanced at his "team", if they could even be called that, since so far they didn't even go out and they "practiced" inside as Nat called them – and horribly failed as Billy was sure they were doing.

But then again no one could blame them, right? Cause they got their powers so suddenly and horribly (the they being him and Teddy, since Eli and Nat seemed to have their powers for a long time – even though Eli _tried_ to be a leader and if you ask Billy, he was failing horribly at that too, and that was one of the reasons why Billy happily put him in their fail category). The only person who SEEMED to know what they were doing was Nat.

…but then again, recruiting a bunch of teen superheroes was not that 'Look I know what I'm doing' if he didn't plan to make sure world was going to get fucked up which –

"Are you fucking _kidding_ me?!"

By the sound of it, Eli had another problem. Yay.

"Come on, it wasn't _that_ bad."

"You're calling _hitting_ a person with a freaking _rock hill_ not _that bad_?"

"I hit him, didn't I?"

"You could've broken his _head_!"

Billy sighed and stood up, trying to pretend he was not around for much longer would probably end up with Teddy grinning even more sheepishly than he was right now, with Eli's head steaming fog from his ears, probably and with Nat even more bloody than he was right now.

… and Billy sometimes wondered why he didn't have healing powers. Not that he had many powers, but becoming a superhero that could heal, could be very useful. And okay, he wouldn't be the action part, but… with the speed they were… _improving_, that was not going to happen any time soon. Not even with the Avengers out of the business… or perhaps _because_ of the Avengers being out of actions, because maybe, hopefully, if they were, they would be able to give them some kind of pointers or something, so they wouldn't have to hide in abandoned Avenger's mansion, with Billy freaking out about Nat going to die, because had human body that much blood in them? Or rather was Nat still human even since he was from future? Did they figure out some awesome special way how to treat the future humans better so they could withstand more blows and – and okay. Maybe Billy was getting distracted with his nerdy side. And he didn't need his … _team mates_ knowing about that, at least not yet. Because Billy didn't think he could keep anything secret from them too long.

Not with the way he was hiding the new Batman issue in his bag, hoping it was going to stay there, safe and sound and that tonight his bag won't need to undergo any more cleaning. He still had that stain from his fall the last time he and Teddy were just playing around and Eli got a bit angry with them. Or growly, which was in Eli's case the same thing.

Which reminded him…

"You know, since we're planning to be like… the next Avengers, shouldn't we have some super special ultra names?" He asked, trying to hide the sparkling in his eyes at that, aaaand he didn't manage to hide the excitement from his voice… weeeell, didn't matter.

"Did you mean _kick ass names_?" Oh yeeees. Billy forgot how very obvious and very MANLY Eli could be.

"Well, yeah." And he couldn't stop the little roll of eyes, which, probably only Teddy noticed, with him grinning as widely as he was.

"That sounds awesome."

And Billy smiled at that, because yeah… it was awesome that Teddy thought that was awesome… and also that Teddy will think that the comic, currently warming Billy's back, because come ON he COULD feel it through the bag, he could SWEAR it, was awesome also. And maybe they could even read it together.

"So… when you two stop gazing _lovingly_ into each other's eyes," Billy made sure to throw a very nasty glare Eli's way, which was promptly ignored, "we can start thinking about them."

And they weren't lovingly staring. Just… gazing perhaps, if you REALLY had to label it something. And Billy wasn't fan of labels.

"Well, we know what Nat should be named," Teddy smiled when the a –little-less-bloody-than-before Nat looked up from when he was probably getting the strength to tell them how much they sucked. Which Billy could do for him, since he had lots of training when it came to that area.

"What is it?" The boy smiled, and Billy wondered whether he was still a bit out of it from the _rock_ thrown in his general direction.

"Iron Lad." Teddy grinned, obviously proud of himself and… okay. Billy admitted he kind of liked that grin on Teddy's face. Even if he was a bit bigger, and greener than his usual self. "Cause you know, with that armor of yours, and we're going to help the people like the Avengers did, right?" Not that NAT would have a secret identity problem but…

"Sounds great." Billy nodded when he noticed Eli opening his mouth. And then close them to very much NOT pout. Hah! Two stones with one bird – he mad Eli shut up, while not doing something too obvious AND Teddy gave HIM a grin.

Which made BILLY grin back foolishly, which brought him to the beginning of his problem. Being a superhero (Or future to BE superhero) was far from easy, and sometimes it was downright scary… but it was not the most difficult thing for a teenager.

But being a superhero to be, and having a crush on your teammate? That sucked. And it totally wasn't like in the movies and comics and Billy had no idea whom to complain about having powers but not getting the girl- er… boy.

Because seriously. In the movies? You only had to swoop in, make sure you get rid of the bad guy and you'd have your Loise Laine, Alex DeWitt or Mera. But yeah, look how well that worked for Green Lantern when he was trying to get the Hawkgirl. Because helping, or saving your teammate is not some kind of love deed. Well, besides the whole SAVING point, of course. Saving a teammate means you're a good friend, or well, you do your job well. There is no way that Billy could bolt-fry someone's ass and Teddy would jump to him, with big tears and- okay… now that was disturbing.

"… what?" He blinked when the group was looking at him, and Eli used the moment, OF COURSE, to roll his eyes.

"Not sure which comic you were in, but Teddy came up with a name for you."

"Oh." Billy blinked, because wow. Teddy came up with a name for HIM, and okay, considering he was the only ONE other person reading comics he was probably only other one with the gift of coming up with NAMES, because being named by Eli would probably end up with some kind of… "Bolt", and come on. Being named after cartoon dog would be SO embarrassing that he wouldn't be able to meet any other superheroes.

… well… not that THAT was ever going to happen. But one could dream.

"Asgardian." Teddy smiled and Billy could see it, his mind coming up with Thor already and the bolt and-

"It's a good name." And thank god Nat- Iron Lad said that, because Billy was half sure he was going to ask Teddy to have his imaginary babies or something. Which yeah…. Not a good idea. Especially with Eli around. Not that the boy had problems with gays. From what Billy understood he had problem with LOVE and romance and… well…. Two people in general, because it was too _sappy_ and _boring_ and _sissy_, and Billy just HOPED he would be around if EVER Eli meets the person he will want to be with. Someone whom he'll fall in love, because… come on, he was a teenager. He had RIGHT to enjoy throwing some words back at someone.

Especially since he had no intentions of doing that at home.

"You could be Patriot, you know." He offered. Especially with his ideas of loving no one. At least he could love his own country. Billy snickered to himself at that, and Eli narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but not even that boy had any powers that could get into Billy's mind – thank God, so he nodded.

"Not too bad."

And Billy had to fight the urge to roll his eyes. Yes, there shall never come a day when Eli will say something was GOOD.

"Well, what about me?" Teddy asked, and Billy turned, and Teddy was looking at HIM, and he wanted Billy to name him and –

"Hulkling." He said slowly. "You know…because you're… big. And strong. And you would never do anything that would hurt… people you want to protect."

"Yeah, and the green shade of yours might have something to do with that too." Eli said, leaning over to pat Teddy's shoulder. "Be glad he didn't name you Ninja Turtle or something."

Teddy chuckled, Billy glared and swore he was going to throw some 'accidental' bolts Eli's way, just for that. He didn't know how to FULLY use his powers yet, after all.

* * *

It wasn't long after that, that Billy had to admit that his stupid embarrassing crush wasn't disappearing as he thought. Because of COURSE he was going to crush on person he KNEW was gay, and was good looking and he spent a LOT of time with. Only, Billy kind of hoped that by spending MORE time with Teddy, some of his actual FLAWS would appear and the boy would go from 'oh my fucking god, he's Adonis' to 'okay, every human being has some flaws so let's just stay friends'.

Only it didn't happen, because Teddy was… awesome.

He knew the comics Billy loved, he knew why Billy disliked the ones he did, and he didn't think that Superman could beat Batman and… if Billy wasn't crushing on Teddy until then, NOW he surely would.

So the evenings they spend reading comics together changed from 'Mission: Making sure Teddy is NOT going to stay my crush' to 'I really like spending time with him'. And it wasn't Billy's fault that he couldn't give up the little time they stole for themselves, away from Eli and Nat, it was ENTIRELY Teddy's fault, because he brought comics over and lend them to Billy and Billy had cotton in his mouth and he didn't know what to do.

So really, it wasn't his time that they were pressed closely together, each reading the others comic and snickering about a thing or two. It wasn't his fault that Teddy looked so GOOD in his own bed, laughing at a panel with Nightwing… it wasn't Billy's fault that he leaned over and pressed his mouth to the corner of Teddy's, his eyes slipping closed for just a fraction of second. Only until he realized what the FUCK he was doing and he pulled back, Teddy frozen on his bed and Billy's heart racing because of COURSE, only because two people were gay in one team it didn't MEAN they had to get together, and he grabbed his bag, ran down the stairs and home, all the time yelling at himself.

How could he be so STUPID?! It wasn't like the two MOST obvious characters ever got together in the team. There was always someone OUTSIDE of the team, and he didn't ask whether Teddy had a boyfriend and come on, with a body like that he HAD to have one, and what if now Teddy will have to admit he kind of kiss-cheated and Billy messed up his entire life?!

… and hiding under the covers in his own bedroom, Billy decided that as a teenager, he had a right to exaggerate.

* * *

He admitted he was too scared when he opened the door next morning and there Teddy was, not even smile on his face. The boy was looking down at his watch, cursing a bit to himself before looking up and Billy got only a comic thrown in his face, before Teddy ran off and Billy whined quietly to himself, picking the comic up and dragging his feet back up to his room, for once managing to make his mother believe that he was really sick and miserable and PLEASE could he stay at home.

So he was right. Teddy thought he was some kind of horny octopus or something and that he kissed just everyone or something. And he even had to run away.

No, being a teenage superhero was not the suckiest thing in Billy's life. His life itself was.

* * *

He almost didn't go to their next training, because he was kind of too afraid of Teddy… well not telling the team, because he wouldn't… but for frowning at him and not smiling once. But he was a superhero, right? He had to get through the hard stuff in his life so he could help others. And it was unfair that some superheroes obviously didn't get their boy. Eeeer… girl.

Only it seemed that fate hated him, or maybe Fate hated him, because when Billy came to the mansion, there was just Teddy, sighing.

"Eli had some problems at school and Nat is… being Nat." The boy said and Billy nodded, forcing his eyes to stay away from Teddy, because Teddy's boy wouldn't like the guy who kissed Teddy ogling his nice ass and- uuugh… not going there.

"Which is… a bit nice, cause I wanted to talk to you anyway." Teddy added and Billy sighed. Okay. Here it goes. The 'being gays doesn't mean we have to be promiscuous' talk or something like that. Which Teddy was totally going to think that Billy was, with that kiss. "I thought you'd call."

Yeah and… wait. THAT didn't fit.

Billy blinked and looked up.

"What?"

And did Teddy look kind of sheepish?

"Well, you know … after the… well short kiss and the thing I wrote to your comic…"

WHAT?! Teddy hated him so MUCH that he felt the need to WRITE in Billy's comics?! That was.. unfair. Okay, Billy understood the hatred, or he really wanted to, but writing into comics?! Billy wouldn't do that to the worst enemy, WHY did Teddy hate him so much to tell him to fuck off by WRITING IT TO BILLY'S COMIC?!

"Look, I know I messed up a BIG deal, but you didn't have to do THAT. You could've just told me to back off." And okay. Billy totally wasn't pouting, but he could admit to wanting to run home and cry over his beloved comic. It was the new issue too.

"… are we talking about the same thing?" Teddy asked, his expression confused as he took a step closer to Billy and Billy wondered whether he missed a part of their conversation.

"… yes?"

Teddy frowned… before he sighed and lifted an eyebrow.

"You didn't even _open_ the comic I returned to you, did you?"

"… uh…"

And Teddy SMILED at that, which was CRUEL, because Billy's COMIC –

"You're an idiot."

And he was even calling him NAMES?!

… well… okay. He deserved that one. And Teddy was close and … oh. There were warm lips pressed against Billy's and he blinked, before kissing slowly back. And it was kind of weird and wet when Teddy's tongue slipped into his mouth, hand pulling at Billy's hair and he groaned, flushing at the sound before Teddy pulled back, smiling.

"Go home and read it."

He said, stealing one more peck from Billy's frozen lips before he walked away.

And Billy blinked, turning and walked back home, his mind swirling with questions as he kicked off his shoes and his hands reached for the comic, opening it a bit shakily, his eyes scanning for written words.

When they found them, he had to smile.

* * *

"_**Don't run next time? ;) "**_


End file.
